The Elites
by ashyash22
Summary: So we're suppose to beat an VRMMORPG with only six people? Not intended to happen only six people remain in Sword Art Online but it doesn't change their fates. They still must conquer the castle of Aincrad but with just the six of them. The real question is, is it really possible for them to win?
1. The Game Begins

**So I finally decided to write a Sword Art Online story. And to make it as interesting as possible I decided to change a vast majority of things so hopefully that will clear up any confusion that may happen after reading. Anyways Hope you enjoy!**

A young male teenager stood in the middle of his house. The room he was currently standing in was completely empty except for the wooden dummies some broken while others stood. In the male's hands was a long elegant black scythe. Sweat was dripping from his brow as he panted slightly due to exhaustion.

"Just a little longer." He said as he looked at the watch on his right wrist. He had been training for roughly two hours as he tried to beat his personal best. He took a step to continue his training but as his foot moved he lost his remaining energy and collapsed onto the floor. This teenager was known as Kirigaya Kazuto. He was sixteen years old and practically lived alone. The reason he lived alone was because four years ago his family had died in a car crash. Their deaths had affected him greatly. But the one that had affected him the greatest was the death of his sister Shigure. After their deaths he had moved into his grandfathers house. Due to his grandfather being away on business most of the time it made it seem like he actually lived alone.

Kazuto didn't really mind being alone actually. After the death of his family he went from being a happy child that loved to talk to one who hardly showed any emotions anymore and kept to himself. He really didn't have any friends so he really didn't leave his house much for anything except school. He spent his time between his two favorite hobbies which were fighting and video games. Luckily they both had a lot in common. Ever since he was a little kid Kazuto loved videos games and just couldn't get enough of them. This led to him actually wanting to try something he saw from a video game once so he began to practice fighting styles. He practiced all sorts of fighting styles such as martial arts, bow and arrow, daggers, swords, and currently he was learning how to wield the scythe.

The ringing of his wrist watch caught his attention as he looked at the tiny clock showing the time 12:55. Knowing it was nearly time for what he had been waiting for nearly a month for he sprung into action. Cleaning up the mess he had made he hurriedly made his way up to his room and was presented with the sight he had set up this morning. Laying on his bed and already turned on was his Nerve Gear.

The Nerve Gear was possibly Kazuto's favorite thing in the world. It allowed the possibility of bring both of his favorite hobbies together letting them work in perfect harmony together. The Nerve Gear when used would take him to a virtual world where he could play a game while fighting to his heart's content. He smiled as he slowly approached his bed. He lifted the Nerve Gear off the bed as he put the helmet device on before laying down. He grew anxious as he waited for the last minute to tick away. A wide grin formed on his face as he saw the numbers change.

"Link Start!" He shouted immediately as his world turned black. That however did not last long as a brilliant array of lights began to zoom past him as his Nerve Gear began to check its programming for any abnormalities. Finding none the all clear was shone as the screen went away. The next thing Kazuto or as he was called in this world Kirito felt was him spawning in to his favorite place.

He was back in Aincrad. And to be more precise he was in the Town of Beginnings the place where everyone started out. He began glancing around him and saw many other players were here as well as more people continued to flood into the game. Not wanting to waste any time he began running through the maze like streets that would had confused any new player but he had no trouble as he wasn't a new player. He had beta tested this gave just a month ago and had memorized every little detail he could in the game from the layout of the land to the smallest of details such as a dot of color. Along with his extensive memorization he had also been called the strongest player.

Back in the beta he had nearly two dozen levels over everyone else. This was due to him knowing how to get experience and fast. Due to him playing alone this meant he did not have to divide up the experience and col like a party would. This game him a major advantage as he would level faster and would be able to purchase more gear and supplies than any normal player. Although he played alone during the beta that didn't mean that the other players hadn't tried to get him to play with them.

At first it was just simple invitations which he refused politely. Things did occasionally escalate every now and then to where either bribery or threats were suggested. Kirito just ignored those moments and just told them to leave him alone. But one day something different happened. A guild had offered him to join them as he was sitting in a tavern one day. he refused and walked out of the pub towards the fields to where he would be grinding mobs. The guild had not taken this well and followed him. While he was fighting three enemies at the same time the guild struck and tried to kill them. Against any normal player they would have won easily. They outnumbered him by five and he was also occupied by mobs but Kirito was anything but normal.

He had managed to dodge one of the mobs at the exact second one of the guild members struck causing the mob to hit the player. Not expecting this the player fell down to the ground dropping his weapon. His guild mates could only watch as their friend was gored by a simple enemy. Enrage by his death the guild rushed forward and killed the mob while Kirito took care of the other two. With the mobs dead all that was left was the players. He had offered them the chance to escape but they refused blinded by rage. The fight was over in a minute but that wasn't the scary part. The part that was scary was Kirito hadn't used his weapon once in the fight.

During the whole exchange between the players he kept dodging every attack they made. This led to their movements getting sloppier and sloppier. It got to the point to where he used this to his advantage and he began dodging at precise moments causing them to hit each other. One by one the guild died as they accidentally killed each other as Kirito gave off an emotionless face. By the time there was one left Kirito didn't even acknowledge him and simply left him alive to tell the tale fully.

The way he had won made a message to anyone who would even think of offering him an invitation in the future and that message was just to leave him alone. That was what he had intended from the beginning and it had worked brilliantly. Since that fight Kirito wasn't asked once to join a party and that was all he wanted from the beginning. Kirito was wondering if he would have to do something similar again.

He managed to stop during his run at a shop to buy some starting gear. Walking inside he went up to the npc and bought two starting daggers. Usually someone would buy a few potions but he didn't need them this early in the game. And besides he wanted to level up his battle healing skill anyways. The reason he had chosen the daggers was due to many of the mobs on this floor being speed enemies. Some of the highest level mobs on the floor were wolves and their speed was hard to keep up with. But since a dagger was small and light he would be easily able to fight them a pack at a time. He then proceeded to walk out of the shop and continue where he left off.

After a few more minutes of running he finally reached the outside of the town to meet the deadliest mobs in the game... a wild boar. Kirito couldn't help but inwardly laugh at the thought of one of these things even being considered a threat. They were so weak and pathetic to him he could kill them with his arms and appendages bound together. The reason he liked to think of them as the deadliest mobs in the games is because out of all the other mobs these boars killed the most. It's sad but true. During the beta people died by the dozens to these boars since most of them didn't even have a clue on how to fight. He had never died once to them. In fact he didn't die in the beta once.

Smirking as he walked forward he drew his dagger in his right hand. When he got into range he began charging the sword skill. Feeling the energy reaching its peak he let it loose and watched as he slashed at the boar dealing massive damage sending it into the red. Following up with some quick slash attacks he depleted its remaining health causing it to burst into polygons.

And so that was how Kirito spent his afternoon. Running around in the fields killing boar after boar. It was evening by the time he stopped as he was close to finally leveling. He had paused to take a quick break and was just flipping around in his menu when he noticed something. The log out button was missing. He tapped the empty white button hoping that this was just a joke, sadly it was not.

Before anything else could happen he felt himself teleporting as he recognized the familiar sensation. He disappeared in a flash of blue and reappeared in the central plaza of town. He looked around and noticed many other players nearby most of them panicking. He deduced they must have also figured out the log out button missing.

The talk of the crowd stopped as a pure red hexagon flashed in the sky. Soon other hexagons began to join it until the whole sky was encased in them. A dark viscous blood red liquid that reminded him of blood began to drip and fall into the shape of a cocoon. The cocoon of blood formed into a giant figure of a red cloaked figure.

"Welcome to Sword Art Online." The figure said. His voice sounded slightly familiar to Kirito but he couldn't remember from. "I am Kayaba Akihiko creator of this world." That was where he had heard the voice before he remembered. He had watched many interviews made for the genius man. "As many of you have already noticed there is no log out button. I would like to say that this is not a bug. I repeat this is not a bug and is a intended feature in the game." The silence of the crowd was broken as hundred of people cried out in protest. Many of them demanding to be logged out immediately.

"I designed this game to be my own personal world. A world in with only I control. You will be forced to stay here until you clear the game by beating all one hundred floors." More cries of protest came out. "And for those of you who think they will be rescued by someone taking off the Nerve Gear that will not happen. A little over two hundred players have already discovered this." As he said those words news screens flickered into existence in front of him. "If anyone should try to remove the Nerve Gear it will microwave your brain." This received the loudest outcry yet.

That was when things started getting weirder. A nearby player suddenly dissipated as a gray hexagon appeared saying the player was forced log out. Soon enough players started disappearing by the hundreds as the same message popped up. He was relieved as he knew he would soon be next. Kayaba who noticed this had summoned a giant keyboard in front of him as he was typing away madly. Soon enough Kirito felt a strange sensation as he thought he was being logged out before he collapsed to the ground with a purple debuff appearing next to his health bar. He struggled to move and found out he was paralyzed.

Soon enough the enraged voice of Kayaba spoke, "That was unexpected." He said in a heavily labored voice trying to contain his rage. "Well looks like the game is going to need an update and some changes." He started coming up with all sorts of fearful thoughts. He was wondering why he had yet to be logged out. Kayaba then continued in a less outraged voice, "So apparently someone found a bug and logged everyone out." This caused confusion in him as he had yet to be logged out. "Well nearly everyone." His eyes widened as he realized he was still stuck here and by the sounds of it so were others.

He saw the debuff disappear and he stood up looking around to see what changed. His eyes widened in shock as he looking around. There was nearly no one left. Besides himself and Kayaba only five others were there.

"As you can see there are some of you left." Kayaba said as he pointed to everyone with his hands. "I am deeply disappointed in myself for not finding that bug earlier. But nonetheless I have fixed it and I have some of you left. I will continue this game even though there are few of you left." He felt his heart beginning to beat more erratically. He was outraged that he had been trapped in this game. When he was told the only way they could escape he was a little optimistic since that was possible. But beating the game with six people? It was just difficult believe in those odds highly.

"I will adjust the game accordingly to make this possible." At those words the first ray of hope shined." Continuing from where I left off. You need to clear all one hundred floors to beat the game. Respawn items are no longer in the game. If you lose all of your health you will die both in the game and in real life." He didn't know how much more he could handle. He was stuck in a death game. "On a final note please check your inventories for the gift I gave you." Opening up his inventory Kirito found a mirror. Spawning it in he caught it in his hands and looked into it. This caused the mirror to break and a flare of blue light to surround him. The light faded and he felt no different from what happened.

"This concludes the tutorial of Sword Art Online. I wish you all good luck as you are going to need it." With those final words Kayaba along with the hexagonal sky disappeared. The silence that followed afterwords was formidably. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Kirito watched the others players as they were looking around frantically. Knowing it was now or never he quickly and discreetly bolted away from the plaza. And while running he thought of something that made him grow a wicked grin on his face, he would be able to fight in a video game uninterrupted for who knows how long. It was like a dream come true to him and with that dream came a simple wish, to beat the game.

 **Be sure to review and give me you thoughts and opinions!**


	2. Interacting With an Actual Person

It had been two weeks since this death game had started. And so far Kirito had yet to encounter a single player which was fine by him. And in that time he had already hit level twelve and was still grinding. He had already far out-leveled many of the enemies on the floor save for a few mini-bosses, rare spawns, and some dungeon enemies. Most of his success was due to the tweaks that Kayaba had put into the game.

There were hundreds of changes but most of them revolved around the combat system. Enemies spawned far more frequently which gave the chance for more items and experience. This was however balanced by the reduced experience gain and item drop rate on many of the weaker enemies. Along with those tweaks the combat bonus for fighting solo had been increased significantly which is where the bulk of Kirito's experience had come from. The rest had come from doing quest which were far more numerous than ever before. This was not due to any tweaking but because of the lack of players there was abundance of quests. The only thing that had changed from the quest system was the item rewards that usually accompanied the experience and col that was almost always guaranteed for completing a quest.

One thing that both intrigued and irritated Kirito was how every enemy in the game now had double the stats. It brought him a greater challenge which he enjoyed but it did increase the risk of injury and death. The only thing he saw as a real problem resulting from this would be the boss fights. It was going to be difficult enough to fight with so few people but doubling the stats would make this almost impossible. That part alone confused Kirito as he wasn't sure whether Kayaba wanted them to fight and survive in this world or just die and give up.

He could only give a sigh as he observed his surroundings which happened to consist of three Dire Wolves one of the stronger mobs on the floor. Normally a single one of these things would give a decent fight that would go either way but with three of them just meant that whatever they were fighting was more than likely to die. Luckily for Kirito he happened to be on the edge of a cliff currently. He gave a small grin as he held three throwing picks in his left hand while his right remained empty. For his idea to work he needed to be able to move swiftly and be able to use as many appendages as freely as possible. Most people would call this idea idiotic but Kirito thought it was brilliant as he had done this before. Well the last time he only had a single one of these wolves on him but how much of a difference could two more who were each eight levels above him make?

Kirito breathed in an out slowly as he observed the muscles in his opponents waiting for a set of legs to tense. He grinned as he saw the left wolf do exactly as he planned and knowing what would come next he tensed his own legs. The Dire Wolf lunged at him and just a second before they collided Kirito jumped into the air causing the Dire Wolf to almost fall off the edge as it barely caught traction with his claws. But Kirito had expected this and as he came back to the ground he twisted so he landed on his right palm which he stretched out while he curled his legs close to his body. This awkward position allowed him to kick the wolf off the cliff but not before Kirito launched one of the throwing picks into the wolf allowing Kirito to receive the experience for when the wolf died of fall damage.

He quickly got out of his one arm side stance as the second wolf lunged. However unlike the first one this one actually managed to clip Kirito slightly causing some of his health to decrease. Irritated by the fact he got wounded Kirito threw his second pick in the wolf's eye causing it to go blind. This gave him the chance to land a hard kick on it causing it to fall off the cliff like the wolf before it. The plan was going exactly as Kirito wanted it to but that was soon changed as the third wolf lunged while he still had his back turned. The wolf sunk both sets of claws into his shoulders and as Kirito hissed in pain as he lost his balance sending the two tumbling off the cliff.

Kirito actually panicked for once as he fell while the Dire Wolf continued to try and kill him. He somehow managed to pull out his dagger as he came up with an idea to get out of this situation alive. The ground was closing in fast but Kirito already had an idiotic idea in mind. He slammed his last throwing pick into the left paw of the wolf and this action caused the beast to let out a whine in pain as one of the claws restricting Kirito's movement let go. This gave him the chance he needed as he twisted to where he was facing the wolf. He slammed his dagger into it's gut and charged up a sword skill as he did this. He let the skill activate as it propelled them into the wall of the cliff which caused his dagger to become embedded in the rock stopping the fall. Although it did cause his arm to jerk painfully due to the sudden stop of momentum.

As the dagger sunk into the cliff wall he felt a massive jerk of strain in his arm as the action halted his momentum almost immediately. He gritted his teeth in annoyance as he felt his arm go numb but he grinned when he took a look down and saw he was safely ten feet above ground. However he could not say the same for the wolf who's polygons were currently dispersing in the air. Kirito gave a satisfied grin as he yanked the dagger out of the cliff and fell to the ground landing on his feet. And with his hunting expedition completed he decided to return to the inn he was staying at.

* * *

 **The Next Day**

If there was one thing that Kirito missed about other people it would be their trades. Since there was basically no players in this game that meant there was only NPC merchants, blacksmiths, and other trades that would usually be handled by players. Now a NPC could still get the job done right but they were a pain to barter with and they usually had nothing of value.

So this was how Kirito began to debate on whether or not to become a blacksmith. It would definitely pay off in the long run but it would hinder him severely in the beginning due to him needing to spend time to level up the skill which wouldn't allow him to increase his combat capabilities as much as he would like. The only reason he had yet to become a blacksmith was due to a strange rumor that the NPCs in town were whispering about.

Usually an NPC would have only a certain amount of sentences they could speak but it seemed to Kirito that their artificial intelligence had increased significantly since Kayaba had changed the game. It was almost as if they were human now due to how complex their interactions were now. But recently they had all started talking about a genius blacksmith in town that seemed to never stay in the same place for longer than a day.

Kirito wanted to find this blacksmith and see just how talented they were because he knew that some NPCs levels relied on who they were speaking to, but those were the rare ones. If this was one of them then Kirito could continually come back to this blacksmith even after he was many levels higher than he currently was. The only problem was that he had no idea on where he should look for them and the fact that they moved so frequently.

Kirito let out a small curse as once again he came to a dead end in his fruitless search of the blacksmith. He had already spent three hours searching but had so far come up with negative results. He turned around sharply to start heading towards another directing but during his turn he bumped into someone knocking them down. Now normally Kirito would walk off since he hating interacting with people but due to this being an NPC he did not mind. Besides this may be another chance for him to get information.

"Sorry about that." He said with barely any emotion as he helped the girl he had knocked over up. He looked over at the girl he had knocked down and had to admit that she was beautiful, long brown hair tumbled down to her mid back as soft equally brown eyes gazed back at him. He couldn't help notice however that she was dressed differently than the other NPCs in the town as she wore a set of reddish brown armor that barely showed from where it was due to the fact it was under the girls grey cloak.

"It's fine I was in a hurry anyways." The girl replied as she got back up and began to walk away.

"Wait before you go can I ask you a question?" Kirito called out to her. The girl stopped walked and turned around to face him.

"And what would that be?" She asked her tone laced with a slight bit of confusion.

"I'm looking for a genius blacksmith and I was wondering if you knew anything." Kirito told her. He noticed that her eyes flashed with recognition for the slightest of seconds before they returned to normal.

"As a matter of fact I do know about this blacksmith." Happiness soared through Kirito as his annoying quest was finally making headway. "If you want to meet her she will be in the center of town by the fountain by midnight." Without waiting for a response the mysterious girl walked off leaving Kirito alone. Not that he cared since he had gotten the information he needed. Although he couldn't help but wonder how the girl knew where the blacksmith would show up. But he chose to believe her as he doubted a NPC had a reason to lie to him.

And so Kirito spent the rest of the evening napping on a bench in the center of town. Normally he would have preferred to nap on a couch or something similar but he wanted to be here for when the blacksmith arrived. So when the internal alarm he had set went off he couldn't help but fall off his bench in surprise. He groggily got up clutching his head as he cursed himself for setting the alarm to such an irritating tone. As he regained his senses he noticed that he was not alone as the girl from before was standing in front of him trying to hold in her laughter.

"And what are you laughing about?" He asked irritated. He looked around and saw that no one else was within eyesight meaning that the blacksmith was not here and that the girl had lied to him.

"I didn't actually think you would sleep out here until midnight waiting for a blacksmith." She replied with a laugh.

"And yet there is no blacksmith here." Kirito deadpanned as he eyed the girl before him with irritation.

"Who said that?" She replied with a smug look on her face. Kirito was about to retort before he though of something, what if this girl in front of him was the blacksmith? It would make sense on how she would know where the blacksmith would be and at what time. That also explained why her appearance was slightly different from the other NPCs.

"You're the blacksmith?" Kirito asked her.

"The one and only." The girl said looked pleased with herself. "And like you I'm also one of the poor saps that got stuck in this game." At this point Kirito's mouth opened to say something but he had no words to say as she processed her words. This meant that he had actually interacted with another person and not an NPC. Shivers went down his spine as he realized this as he hated dealing with people. He then decided that if this girl was a blacksmith and the rumors about her were true then he had no choice but test out her skills for himself.

"You're another player?" He asked to try and beat around the bush for a minute. While he wanted to hurry and test her blacksmith skills he was not used to actually talking to another person so he tried to gradually ease himself into the situation and if need be rush through it and run.

"Not sure whether I should be glad I am or not but yes I am a player. And before you ask, I knew you were one because I saw you run out of the plaza immediately on the first day. Don't worry though I won't judge that because I did the same thing actually a few seconds after you left." She said with a smile. Kirito wasn't sure how he should have been feeling at this point as this was just unnatural to him. He decided that he should just get what he came for.

"So you're a blacksmith?" He asked her as he looked her over. She really did not seem like one but he knew better to judge something from its looks alone.

"Yes a level seventy one as well so I can handle anything you need." Kirito's eyes widened at her words as he could not believe what he had just heard.

"I'm sorry what blacksmithing level are you?" He asked just to make sure.

"Seventy." The girl replied happily.

"How have you gotten it up so high already?" He asked her astounded. Part of him wanted to believe her but he just thought it was impossible for that skill to be such a high level this early. Even his knife skill was barely halfway to level one-hundred.

"I took an apprenticeship quest line and that has rapidly leveled up the skill and my character level in general." These words made Kirito wonder if Kayaba had also changed how crafting skills worked and he figured since he had changed every other quest he had also changed those as well.

"So can you upgrade these for me?" He asked sending her a screen that showed what weapons he wanted upgraded. The girl's eyes widened as she scanned the items on the list.

"I can do it but do you have the materials for all these?" She asked. Kirito had expected this to be honest as some of the items needed were quite rare. He sent over another screen with all the items necessary.

"I can do this but I want something in return." She said as she opened up her inventory and began to tap away.

"I got enough col as long as you can hold up your end." He told her.

"Oh I don't want col I want someone to talk to." She replied as she tapped one more time. A screen appeared in front of Kirito as a friend request screen popped up. He looked at the girl in question as he thought about what he should do. He knew that he should accept as this was more than likely the best way he would get his weapons upgraded and repaired but he really did not like dealing with people. After much thought he let out a sigh as he accepted the request.

The girl did a little happy dance as she saw her request accepted before she remembered she was being watched. "Sorry it's just I don't really do well with people especially crowds so I never really had many friends." She said sheepishly. Kirito noted how similar the two of them were on the matter with the exception he just hated dealing with people in general. "The name's Rain by the way." She said offering up a hand.

Kirito looked at it for a second before raising his own albeit hesitantly, "Kirito." He replied. And so that was how Kirito's first social interaction in Sword Art Online went.

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter! So as you can tell I have made some small minor changes along with a few big one so if you have any concerns or questions feel free to ask. I have yet to decide who one or two members of the six will be yet so if you have any specific person to request please tell me!**


	3. The First Boss

It had been a month since Kirito had met Rain and during that month he had slowly opened up to her. And by slowly opening up it meant he could actually tell her to act as his cannon fodder without care now. During that month he had learned that when Rain wanted something she got it and that was how he had gotten used to her accompanying him when he went out to grind. On the bright side he also got a ton of upgraded weapons so he really couldn't be complaining.

He had also learned that while he had thought that the solo experience bonus for fighting was huge the bonus for fighting with a party was even higher which confused him. He reasoned it had to be a change and that the main point of it was to try and get the few players to work together to make it easier for them to survive. He probably assumed that if someone was dumb enough to fight alone they would die so this bonus would help entice them to join the other players.

Due to this bonus Kirito's level was now around twenty-five which meant the only place he could really grind in anymore was the dungeon. And this was what to the idea that he should have a mock boss fight. It would be the same as an actual floor boss fight except for the objective. Normally the objective would be to kill it but Kirito only wanted to memorize the attack patterns of the boss. But that didn't mean that he wasn't going to not try to kill it. He theorized even with the enemies doubled stats that his health bar was high enough to be able to take at least a few hits and allow him to escaped it needed.

"Have I mentioned you're an idiot today?" Rain asked him as she leaned against the boss door. Ever since Kirito had proposed the idea to her she had been trying to talk him out of it but so far she had made zero progress. She thought it was just plain suicide to fight the boss with the two of them but when asked if she had any better idea she had remained silent. She enjoyed working with Kirito even if the feeling wasn't mutual but that didn't mean she would be happy to work with the other players. She did not like groups of people and Kirito was a loner like her so it made it even easier for her to hang out with him.

"If you don't wanna join you can just leave." Kirito replied without a care in the world. He was currently organizing his inventory so he would be able to switch weapons when needed in the fight. He was planning to just check the bosses attack patterns and gear but if the opportunity presented itself he wouldn't hesitate to go for the kill.

"But if I do you will get yourself killed." Rain replied with a pout as she fiddled with the sword on her hip. The sword was of course made by her and it was he pride and joy as it's parameters were equal to a weapon on the fifth floor.

"Like I would allow myself to die to a weakling like this." Kirito said as as he closed his inventory. "So you coming or what?" He only asked because if she was going he could plan accordingly. If she came she could distract the minions or be cannon fodder if she didn't come he would just kill them first.

"I have to or you will die." She pulled out her sword as she steeled her nerves. She unlike Kirito was not in the beta so she had no idea what could be behind these doors. Of course he had explained Illfang the Kobold Lord to her there was only so much words could prepare you for.

A smile crossed Kirito's face as he opened the massive door. One of his favorite things to do was to fight a boss and he loved the sensation of the fight so he couldn't wait to enter the room. As they entered the room was lit up into a prism of colors that were constantly shifting. At the end of the room sitting upon a bronze throne was their opponent and at seeing their arrival the large red Kobold stood up from his throne.

"That's him?" Rain asked in shock.

"Should be, I mean he didn't have the throne in the beta but it doesn't matter really." Rain nodded at his words. He had told her how he was in the beta test and personally she was glad as this gave them an edge. What she didn't know however was that the only reason he had told her this was to try and get her to drift away from him.

"Where are his minions?" She asked as she looked around. Only themselves and the boss were in the room.

"They may come later so watch out for a surprise attack. Until then just watch for any irregular things." And with those words Kirito pulled out two daggers and rushed towards the enemy. Within the first five seconds he had nearly lost his head as the Kobold swung his weapon over his head but Kirito knew this would happen and ducked beneath. As the boss pulled back his arm Kirito took the dagger in his right hand and slammed it under the armpit burying the dagger deep into the boss. He quickly retreated as he did this and went into his inventory quickly equipping a third dagger.

"You said you weren't going to fight him right off the bat!" Kirito heard Rain's voice call out form behind him.

"Force of habit." He replied. He watched with satisfaction as his first dagger was still stuck where he had left it. He had embedded the small blade to cause a bleed effect and while it did very little damage it was doing some which was just what the wanted. Illfang rushed forward at speeds Kirito had not expected which made him unable to block until the very last second. Due to this he was thrown backwards with great force and just as he was about to crash into a pillar he felt himself being caught by something.

"Rain?" He asked wondering how she was holding him.

"Blacksmiths do need a bit of strength." She replied with a small laugh. She then bonked him on the head. "See I told you that you would get hurt. You might have possibly died if I wasn't here." He sighed as he knew she could have been right. He had not expected such speed and he was caught off guard. If he had crashed into the pillar he might not have been able to move after that and Illfang could have easily closed the distance between the two.

"Any minions yet?" He asked as he drunk a health potion.

"Not yet." She replied as she rushed towards the boss surprising Kirito. This made Kirito wonder what was going on as usually they would be swarming the attacking party. He then realized maybe they were removed so their only threat would be the boss.

"What are you doing!?" He called out wondering what was going through her head.

"You need to heal and besides you if we don't kill him today we both need to get used to his fighting style." Once again he was forced to admit her words held truth. He finished the potion and got his daggers ready as he went to go join the girl.

"Keep him busy I got an idea." He told her.

"But your ideas are idiotic!" She shouted back from the other side of the boss. During the month she had learned how Kirito fought and had especially learned he always did the dumbest things in combat that somehow worked to his advantage.

"Name one idiotic idea." He told her as he used a sword skill on the boss to get the attention off Rain.

"This boss fight." He gave a inside laugh at her response as he looked up at his foe. So far with the random slashes of damage they had inflicted along with the bleeding effect from the still embedded dagger they had removed only a tiny bit of health. Looking at the health bar for the first time Kirito's eyes widened as he saw that the boss only had one health bar. He assumed that while the other stats of the boss were amplified the health might have been lowered to balance the boss out.

Like before the boss swung his axe at Kirito and he dodged once again. What he didn't expect was the follow up shield bash but luckily his reflexes kicked in at the last second making him jump over the shield entirely. And just like last time he slammed his dagger into the bosses weapon arm but this time it was from the shoulder. The eyes of the boss flashed with rage as it leaned its head back and released a demonic war cry.

"Rain I think it's enraged so watch out." He called out as he got away.

"Isn't that suppose to happen when he's almost dead though?" She asked.

"Welcome to video games where everything just seems unfair." He replied as he equipped his last extra dagger. While they had been talking Illfang had thrown away his axe and shield and now pulled out a long elegant blade. It wasn't the same blade he had used in the beta as that had been a Talwar and he now had a Nodachi.

"Careful Rain his enrage weapon has changed. He has a Nodachi which probably means he has katana skills so stay out of his range." The girl gave him a nod as once again she went to go grab his attention. Looking down at his last two daggers Kirito gave a nod. He rushed forward and was pleasantly surprised to see that Rain was avoiding all off the attacks thrown at her while putting some in on her own. While he hated working with people he wasn't gonna complain about her combat skills.

Focusing on the threat in front of him Kirito jumped up into the air and slammed both of his daggers into the sides of the arm that already had his other daggers in it. Letting go and jumping back Kirito watched as the enraged boss turned around to face him. This was the part where he would either get injured and possibly horribly die or he would get to reap the rewards of his labor. The boss took a step towards him and began to use a skill and just as it released it the noise of flesh tearing filled the room. Kirito smiled as his plan had worked as he saw the bosses arm get torn off and burst into polygons.

His plan had been to embed his daggers from four directions into the boss. Every time the boss had moved that arm they would slowly tear away and cause damage and that had been slowly draining its health since the first dagger. The damage had only multiplied with the second dagger and once all four daggers had been put in place the plan went into action. Due to the positioning of the daggers when the boss would try and use a skill it would cause all four daggers to twist in such a way that the arm would be severed.

What he didn't plan on happening however was the boss continuing the skill with one arm. It was as if it hadn't registered the lost limb and as he released the skill the most incredible thing Kirito had ever saw happen. Due to a katana being a two-handed weapon and due to the sheer size of it the skill completely missed him. The loss of the arm had also thrown off the center of balance of the boss so badly that the katana came back and hit the Kobold in the head. Both Kirito and Rain watch as the health bar of the boss began to drain rapidly and both of them were surprised as the last pixel of health dissipated along with the boss as it burst into polygons.

"You have got to be kidding me." Kirito said as he watched the spot where the boss died completely ignoring the reward screen.

"Did that really just happen?" Rain asked not believing what she just saw. A minute of silence passed as they both finally looked at their reward screens. Both of them were happy with their rewards as each had gained two levels.

"Hey Rain?" Kirito asked noticing something was missing.

"Yes?" She responded.

"Did you get the last attack bonus?" He hadn't gotten it so he knew she had to have gotten it.

"No I didn't." She replied.

"Then if neither of us got it then that means...DID THAT REALLY JUST HAPPEN!?" He shouted out realizing what happened. His outburst had made Rain jump as she was not expecting him to shout.

"What happened?" She asked a little afraid of the answer.

"Since the boss hit itself and killed itself that means it got it." He deadpanned trying to control his rage. Rain could only stare at him until she started laughing uncontrollably. And that was how the first boss of one-hundred was killed.

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Now I know I said to certain people that the rest of the characters were going to be introduced in this chapter but I had to change that after realizing how freaking boring the chapter I had written was. But I can say one character will be introduce in the next one! Anyways make sure to leave a review and until next time!**


	4. The Rat

Currently at the main city on the second floor Kirito and Rain were having a massive argument. If anyone were to see this they would assume one of them had punched the other's grandmother by how violently they were arguing. But that was not the case as the two of them were arguing over a rather trivial thing.

"You do it!" Kirito exclaimed to the Rain.

"No way you do it!" Rain replied.

"I am not turning on that teleport gate so you do it!" He said as his tone almost went into a pleading one. If he could he would not activate it at all but the only way to make quests, buildings, and shops available on a floor was to turn it on.

"Why do you not want to do it?" She asked. The only reason she refused to do it was because he was. She assumed that something bad would happen if that gate was activated so she wanted him to do it.

"The second Illfang died a message should have been sent out to the other players meaning they are either at the warp gate on the first floor or coming through the boss dungeon as we speak." He told her. She gave him a look that basically said 'is this really why you refuse to turn it on?'

"You're telling me that you are scared of the chance of someone being at the first floor's teleport gate already?" She questioned him.

"Oh I know it isn't a possibility" He said in a serious tone.

"And how do you know that?" Rain asked confused as she was pretty sure she was the only other player he had associated with.

"Last week I saw a familiar face in town and as I started to turn away they got a look at my face." He said as if he was ashamed at being caught.

"You mean it was another beta player?" Rain asked.

"Indeed and while there are no negative feelings between us my mental state will decline if I am to associate with them. But since they saw me and actually know me they know I was at that boss fight." He said nervously. This made Rain wonder just who could make Kirito this nervous. A evil smile formed on her face as an equally evil idea formed in her head. She quickly got rid of the smile before Kirito could see it and replaced it with a gentle one.

"Alright I'll activate it so just go hide in a restaurant or something." Kirito thought he misheard her at first but after making sure what he heard was true he quickly ran into the nearest building fearing that Rain would change her mind. When he was out of sight the evil smile quickly formed on Rain's face as she walked towards the gate. While she did not really want to talk with others she figured if they could make Kirito act like this it might be worth it to know them. She stopped walking as she arrived at the gate and with no hesitation began to turn it on.

A light blue glow appeared around the gate as it hummed to life and as soon as it activated a darker but still light blue light appeared signifying an incoming teleport. Rain was actually surprised that the other player had reacted so fast but stood still as the person formed in front of her. A person wearing a cloak appeared and was wearing the cloak to where you could't see their face but their figure told Rain that the other was indeed a girl. Before Rain could wonder why their face was covered the other person took a look at her before taking a step back.

"You're not Kirito." The cloaked person said. At this Rain smiled as she began her plan.

"Who's Kirito?" She said loud enough for him to hear. She then mouthed to the girl _"He's hiding over there."_ And pointed to his location. Even though she couldn't see the others face she could feel the grin emitting from her.

"You're telling me you fought the boss?" The cloaked girl said as she walked slowly towards Kirito who was currently sitting against a wall with his head just below the window.

"Yeah and I gotta say he was pretty ugly." Rain said as she watched the girl get closer and closer to Kirito.

"I gotta say I'm impressed." The other girl was just outside the building Kirito was hiding in.

"Impressed by what?" Rain asked truly confused. The girl didn't answer at first and flipped down her hood to reveal her curly auburn hair but due to her front facing the other way Rain could not see her face.

"I am impressed by the fact that Kirito thinks he can hide from me." Rain started to grin madly as her plan had worked. She was sure that if she could see Kirito and vice versa that he would be giving her a death glare. "I know you're in there Kirito now come on out." Minutes passed as Rain began to wonder if Kirito was going to hold up in there and just as the other girl was about to go in there the door opened to reveal Kirito.

As he walked out he sent a death glare towards Rain who in turned gave him a smile and a double thumbs up. "Hey Argo it has been a while huh?" He said nervously as his eyes darted around in search of an escape route.

"Since we last spoke it has but you saw me last week and didn't even say hello." The auburn hair girl chastised him as she put her hands on her hips.

"Well I was rather busy." He said as he looked at rain and mouthed the words _"Help me!"_ Rain was surprised he was asking this after she had betrayed him but just stuck her tongue out in response.

"I can see since you killed Illfang. Originally I had come up her to chastise you about fighting that boss solo but I know know you had a partner." The girl turned around revealing her face to Rain. She had soft brown eyes that had the look of trickery in them and on her face was a set of cat whiskers.

"Thanks for telling me he was here by the way." The girl said to Rain.

"No problem." Rain replied trying her hardest not to ask what the whiskers were about.

"I'm Argo nice to meet you." The girl said as she walked up to Rain and held her hand out.

"Rain." Rain said as she looked over at Kirito who was currently bolting down the street.

Catching the direction in Rain's eyes Argo asked, "He's running away isn't he?"

"Yes he is, shall we chase him?" Rain asked with a evil smile.

"Let the hunt being." Argo replied dawning a similar smile as the two of them started to chase after the fleeting male.

* * *

It had been a couple of hours since Kirito had escaped from the two girls and he was currently leaning against a tree as he caught his breath. He hating dealing with people and had ran away at the first chance he got. While he had spoken to Argo before the girl had teased him relentlessly causing him to want nothing to do with her as he remarks decreased his sanity. Truthful he didn't want to be near Rain either and had only stayed with her because she insisted and that the fact she was a blacksmith. He knew if he wanted weapons he would have to return to her but at the moment he didn't want to as he was a little irritated at being sold out by her.

He was brought out of his thoughts as he heard the sounds of leaves rustling. He immediately reacted and drew his weapon but cursed as he remembered how deteriorated the dagger was due to his fight with Illfang. He was about to switch the small weapon out for one of his one-handed swords but was forced to jump to his right as a giant red bull charged out of the nearby foliage. As he landed and turned to face the bull Kirito cursed as he realized the mob in front of him was basically the Dire Wold of the second floor.

The Enraged Heifer while it had poor directional movement due to its charge had an absurd amount of attack and health making it annoying and dangerous to fight. Kirito remained calm however it was only one of them but that changed as the sound of rustling once again reached his air. Knowing what was more than likely coming he jumped away just in time to dodge a group of Enraged Heifer's. Kirito nearly had to double take when he saw that there was now five of them.

He knew that this was a fight he would have difficulty winning due to their numbers and level which was nearly twenty above his. But he still remained calm as he readied his dagger and tried to formulate a plan. He couldn't kill them with outright force due to their health because if he tried to kill one the others would attack so that left him with only one other option.

For the next couple of minutes he dodge their attacks until they had formed a pentagon around him with him in the center. Kirito readied his dagger as he readied himself to start his plan. The first bull charged at him and instead of jumping away Kirito landed a sword skill on its horn causing it to stumble mid-charge causing it to go off coarse and ram into another bull. Kirito smiled with satisfaction as he watched the bull that was hit lose half of its health.

He repeated this process until all the bulls but one had died and just as Kirito was about to kill the last one something strange happened. The bull careened its neck and let out a cry like the bull version of a wolf howl. That cry was soon answered by multiple other cries and Kirito knew what had happened. The final bull had just called in reinforcements and from the sound of it there was a lot of them. He knew he had to act fast so he rush forwards and launched a barrage of sword skills killing the final boar just in time for him to notice the arrival of others.

Kirito turned around to see how many new arrivals had showed up and nearly paled at the sight before him. There were enough bulls for the whole area to be filled to the brim with them and Kirito could hear the cries of the others further back. Knowing that not even one of his plans would save him this time Kirito did the only thing he could and that was run.

Running from such a large horde of those bulls was nothing short of terrifying. As Kirito rain he could feel their breath and the tips of their horns making him run faster. He had no idea how long he had been running but he was beginning to tire out and the bulls showed so signs of stopped. Kirito ran through another treeline and quickly panicked when he noticed the lack of land in front of him but due to his momentum he couldn't stop and he ran off a cliff. Luckily for him he spotted a lake at the bottom of the cliff but he wasn't sure whether or not the bulls had followed him. With their momentum he wouldn't have been surprised so as he fell he managed to equip his sword seconds before he landed in the water.

After regaining he awareness Kirito swam out of the water onto dry land to witness the sight of a few bulls falling from the cliff and landing in the water. But luckily for him it seemed they couldn't swim as once they entered the water they never left it. As Kirito watched the occasional falling bull he once again heard the sound of rustling leaves and cursed his luck not believing how he had somehow attracted one of the rarest mobs on the floor. As he readied his stance but that quickly faltered when he saw something scarier come out of the foliage.

"Argo..." He said as the whiskered girl came out of the foliage with Rain not far behind.

"So is this where you were hiding Kirito?" The auburn haired girl said stretching out each syllable in his name.

"Um well you see-" He began to answer but was luckily saved as a final random bull fell from the cliff gaining the attention of the three players.

"Do I even want to know what happened?" Argo asked as she looked at the spot where the bull landed.

"No you don't." Kirito said as he walked passed the two girls and started making his way back to town.

 **Hope you liked the chapter! Make sure to review if you got any ideas or suggestions for the story!**


	5. Wasp Queen

A loud thud echoed throughout the small cafe as the two females in the place looked at the source, which happened to be Kirito who had once again slammed his head down on the table due to being bored out of his mind. The two girls shrugged it off like it was a common everyday thing as they resumed their conversation which just happened to be about Kirito and all the stupid things he had done.

"And the next thing I know I see him riding one holding on for dear life," Argo said finishing her story with a laugh.

"That isn't that bad I just remember the other day when he-," Rain was cut off as the sound of a chair screeching on the floor reached her ears as Kirito stood up.

"Kirito, where do you think you're going?" Argo asked as her eyes narrowed.

"I'm tired of listening to you two talk as if I'm not here. If you need me I will actually be doing something productive." He was already halfway out the door as he said this but was stopped as both of the girls grabbed onto his shoulders.

"Now Kirito you aren't seriously thinking of leaving alone are you?" Argo asked her voice going into a dangerous tone. "Because if you did I may just have to cuff you to a table."

"Just let me go before I get mad," Kirito said as he got out of the grasp of the two of them. "I am a solo player and I want to stay that way." He was facing away making him miss the look of hurt that quickly appeared on Rain's face. After receiving no response he walked off leaving the two girls alone one mad and the other hurt.

"He didn't mean to hurt'cha, you know?" Argo said in an attempt to console the girl beside her.

"But he's right I have been just forcing him to take me along this whole time for selfish reasons." Rain replied sadly.

"He has always been like this just give him some time alone with the local wildlife and he will have gotten over his mood after a mass extinction or two." Argo joked as she thought of a way to cheer her up.

"I can introduce you to the others you know? They are really friendly especially compared to him." Rain did a little shudder at the mention of others and this was not something Argo missed.

"Scared of groups of people?" She asked knowing the case all too well. She was snicker a little on the inside as she realized how similar Rain was to Kirito. Rain just gave a nod as her answer since she was too embarrassed to answer.

"I really just don't feel comfortable interacting with others that much." She finally said.

"There's only three of them and I can guarantee two of them will be all over how cute you are. The last one while he is a bit intimidating is like a gentle giant." Argo said trying to convince the girl. It was hard enough to try and beat this game with one crazy person refusing to interact with other and they did not need another Kirito.

"Can I leave if I get uncomfortable?" Rain asked causing Argo to smile.

"Of course, now come on!" She said quickly as she ushered Rain to the teleport gate before she changed her mind. The two girls quickly left and teleported to the first floor just in time to miss a teleport coming in.

A lone figured stepped on out of the teleport gate and took a quick look around as a smile spread on their face. "Hopefully this floor is just as fun as the first one!" They exclaimed before rushing off in the exact direction Kirito had gone.

* * *

Kirito was not in a good mood as he once again wiped a cluster of wasps that was nearby. He had been already cleared half a dozen or so of the clusters and had acquired some decent drops but he didn't care as his clustered thoughts dominated his mind. He was very annoyed that Argo and Rain had expected him to stay with them and act like he was part of a group or something. He hated groups and he hated people but he could admit he hated the two of them less than the normal person. He was glad to be free once again as it had been a long time since he had gone solo, well if you didn't count the small escapade that had happened after the opening of the floor that is.

He was brought out of his thoughts as he heard the sound of shattering and looked down just in time to see the durability of one of his daggers had emptied causing the weapon to shatter. He let out a small curse in annoyance as that was one of his finer daggers. The reason it had broke was because he hadn't repaired it like he usually would have with Rain. He did enjoy her smithing work as she was truly gifted with it and that was one of the reasons he had put up with her for as long as he did. The other reason was that she was a loner like him but after seeing how she interacted with Argo he was no longer entirely convinced of that. If she was a loner she would be fine with Argo as she could crack open almost any person's mind with ease.

Kirito opened his inventory and stowed away his other dagger since he had gotten a little bored of using them. He finally decided on a small lightweight sword that he had acquired from the wasps he had slain. Sting was the name of the blade and it was a simple one handed sword that was colored an annoying bright yellow. He did not like the weight nor the color of the blade but the speed that it could be swung and the damage it had was more than enough to convince him to use the blade. During this moment he had not noticed a loud buzzing sound nearby causing him to snap to reality as he heard the wind whooshing behind him. His experience was the only thing that saved him as he quickly turned to the side, barely evading the larger than normal stinger that now took place where he was just moments before.

"I either have the greatest or unluckiest luck in the world." He murmured as he looked at the Wasp Queen before him.

This was a field boss unlike most since it wasn't naturally spawning and could only spawn at a very small chance after so many clusters of her subordinates had been killed. The Wasp Queen was easily the strongest enemy on the floor as its strength could rival the floor boss on the next one. This was balanced however by the fact that while its other stats were unfairly high, the health was lower than normal. While this fight was unfair due to the sheer odds of it there was one silver lining and that was the fact that if Kirito was overwhelmed he could simply run away to town and be safe as the boss would not follow. But he didn't consider this right now as all he thought about was the possible drops and experience.

He charged the giant mob and activated a sword skill causing a long horizontal slash along its side. He quickly followed up with a double strike and then quickly jumped back as the queen countered. He repeated this process two more times before noticing that the health bar had maybe lost a few pixels so far. He cursed under his breath as he knew while its health was lower than it should be, it was an enemy that was not meant for players who just started this floor. But Kirito had fought this boss in the beta and knew every attack it had. He could dodge them all meaning he could win this fight with pure skill as long as he won the battle of attrition.

They exchanged attacks for the next few hours causing a serve mental strain to start forming on Kirito. Just the mass repetition he had been following with his attacks had been numbing his mind slowly and it was causing him to grow sluggish. Eventually, this caused him to mess up allowing the Wasp Queen to land an attack which took his health down into the red with one shot, he would have died if he didn't attempt the dodge at all. He did a backward jump and chugged down a few health potions to heal what he had lost and during this time he noticed that the boss still had a quarter of health meaning it would take another hour or two before it would die.

After healing Kirito charged into battle once again but as soon as his sword skill connected he knew he was screwed as the wasp let out a noise in rage and its color changed from yellow to red signifying it had entered enragement, which was something it had been incapable of in the beta. He barely avoiding the queen's next few strikes as she lashed out with her stinger faster than ever before. He knew with its new found strength that it would be impossible for him to kill with his current stats and gear.

He tried to break away from his fight in an attempt to escape but the queen let out another noise causing other wasps to spawn in cutting off any route. These new wasps were stronger than normal ones and much faster. The also wouldn't die in sword skill or two like a normal one meaning that Kirito was basically screwed at this point. That didn't mean he wasn't gonna try and escape as he started a hit and run strategy on the summoned wasps. It was exhausting and dangerous as their attacks took a fourth of his health every time one of their stingers hit. Eventually, however, he had managed to kill them off but just as he began running to escape he felt something sticky slam into the back of his ankles causing him to trip.

After the painful impact, he twisted around to see a thick viscous liquid that resembled and was probably honey had hit him. He looked around for the culprit and since the Wasp Queen was the only thing left meant that it had been the one who had launched the honey. He tried to cut away at it with his sword but the blade would only get caught in the honey. Slowly as if it was taunting him the boss approached and when it was overhead it reared back its stinger to deliver the killing blow. Kirito managed to get his sword unstuck at the last second and managed the block the attack but the force behind it also causing his sword to be wrenched from his grip. The queen let out a sound as if it was laughing as it once again reared back his attack. Kirito

The queen let out a sound as if it was laughing as it once again reared back his attack. Kirito fumbled through his inventory as he hurriedly tried to equip another weapon but he knew he would be too slow and closed his eyes waiting for the sound of his own shattered polygons to fill his ears. The sound soon came but the strange thing was that Kirito hadn't felt himself get hit and the noise had come from above him. He slowly opened his eyes to see something he would have never thought possible.

A girl was standing above him and from the looks of it, she had just used a sword skill. The problem one it had happened at the last moment meaning it to be a single strike which also meant that it had taken out the fourth of the bosses health that had remained in a single hit. Kirito lay there absolutely stunned as he looked at the girl who finally turned around as if just noticing him. She calmly walked over to him before bending slightly down and offering a hand as she happily said, "That was fun wasn't it?" He didn't even feel himself pass out.

 **Sorry for the long time it took to update. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	6. Rifts

As he returned to the realm of consciousness the first thing Kirito felt was pain, his whole body was riddled with it. His body seemed to ache which for a feeling replicated in a game was too accurate for him to care for. Luckily it seemed he was in a very soft bed which he hadn't expected since he had passed out in the field. His eyes snapped open immediately as he jerked straight up as he remembered this.

His heart was beating at an erratic pace as he scanned the room he was in which was empty besides a chair and the bed he was currently in. At seeing this his heart began to slow down but not enough as he tried to figure out where he was. The last thing he remembered was the boss being slain and a girls voice. He quickly rationalized that it must have been because of her that he awoke here. He crawled out of the bed and looked down at himself and quickly blushed which was unlike him. The reason for the brushing was because he currently had no gear on and was in his pajamas meaning that someone had changed him while he was asleep.

He quickly got this thought out of his head as he equipped his gear and felt reassured as the familiar weight of a weapon rested on his back. Now was the tough part as he didn't know whether he should just open the window and run or be just a tiny bit social thank the girl who saved him and get away from here as fast as possible. As he thought about what to do the door opened which quickly eliminated all of his options. Kirito cursed inwardly as a giant of a man walked into the room with an equally giant axe slung across his back. When he entered the room he didn't notice Kirito at first but when the two locked eyes the bigger man was clearly surprised at him being up.

"About time you woke up, I was starting to think we had a coma victim sleeping up here." The man said with a deep laugh as he extended his hand. "The name's Agil." Kirito slowly took the man's hand which he soon regretted as his own was soon crushed in the handshake.

"Kirito." He gasped out as he hoped he would still be able to wield a weapon with that hand again.

"Why don't you come on downstairs? The rest of us are already down there including your friend." Kirito gulped as he realized that meant either Rain or Argo was here. The even scarier thought was that they both were which was the most probable answer. He gave Agil a silent nod and followed the man down a staircase into the tavern of the inn. He quickly spotted a group of four girls in the corner and at seeing the two familiar ones he gave another silent curse. He wanted to back away and run but sadly their seats let them have a view of the tavern while their backs were against the wall making it impossible for that.

Argo was the first one to see him and quickly nudged Rain who was in mid-sentence. She looked at Argo questionable before she followed her gaze and locked eyes with him causing an angry glare to form on her face. The screeching of a chair filled the air as she stood up and started stalking towards him. The glare she had on practically screamed murder and Kirito was too transfixed on it to notice Agil sliding off to the side.

Rain stopped about a foot from Kirito and placed her hands on her hips but didn't say anything. Kirito counted down from three and that was all it took for the girl to explode.

"Do you have any idea how worried I-we were!? You nearly died! When Yukki brought you in your health bar practically didn't even exist! You know the magic pixel of health that ever gamer hates when an enemy has it!? You had that and if I even breathed on you out in the field you probably would have died! Now, what do you have to say for yourself!?" Kirito was surprised she managed to shout all of that out at him in one breath but quickly a little guilt began to set in. He did feel a slightly bit guilty for making her worry but that wasn't what was the main priority in his mind. He was more worried about what she said about his health.

He had nearly died. He, Kirito or otherwise known as Kazuto Kirigaya had nearly died and would have too if it wasn't for the help of a stranger. He struggled with this for a second before he slammed his first into the nearby table. The table didn't break because of the immortal status but that didn't stop Kirito from trying as he sent a few more punches into it. He was pissed that he was so stupid to have nearly died. After a couple more punches he looked back at Rain to see fear in her eyes.

"Sorry, Rain that wasn't about you and sorry for making you worry." He said as he passed her. He walked towards the table where the other three were sitting.

"Quite a little show kid," Argo said with a chuckle as he stopped in front of the table.

"Glad to see you care." He told her before he turned his attention to the other two girls. The one closest to him had bright pink hair that was slightly curly in some areas and reached down to just below her shoulders. Her red eyes showed nothing but amusement that matched her playful smile as she stared at the girl sitting next to her, however, was who caught Kirito's attention. Even though his memories were hazy he knew instantly this was the girl who saved him.

She had long purple hair that fell all the way down to her waist and in the hair was a bright red sash. Like the girl next to her she also had red eyes but they had an analytical look hidden behind a mask of happiness. Even though she was sitting down Kirito could immediately tell by the posture that the girl held that she was no amateur warrior making him even more sure this was the girl who saved him.

After a small moment of silence, Kirito decided to break it, "Thank you for saving me." He said to her as he gave a small bow of his head. A big smile appeared on the girl's face as she stood up.

"It was no problem, but you were incredible! I watched the whole fight since the start and if it hadn't enraged the fight would have been yours." The girls said with praise surprising Kirito. It wasn't the praise that surprised him but the fact that he had not detected the girl watching the fight at all meaning that her hiding skill was higher than his detections which was a scary thought. He was glad however that she hadn't brought up his little rage moment that had happened only a few moments ago.

"I'm Yukki by the way." She said happily as she extended her arm.

"Kirito." He said as he shook hands with the girl. After this was done an awkward silence fell over giving Kirito the perfect excuse to try and make his leave. "Again you have my thanks for saving me but I think I should go." He turned around but before even one step could be taken he felt a tug on the back of his cloak.

"But you just woke up." He turned around to see that the pink haired girl was grasping the edge of the fabric on his coat. He sighed with annoyance as he looked at the pleading glance of the girl and notice that Argo had a look on her face that also told him to stay.

"Fine, I'll stay for breakfast." He said with a sigh as he sat down in one of the many seats. He immediately opened up his inventory and scrolled through it until he found the item he was looking for and soon a rather unappealing piece of bread appeared in his hands. The bread drew questioning looks from the girls but he didn't care as he summoned a small jar of creme and applied it to the bread.

"So...I know I'm new to this whole socializing with people thing but shouldn't there be some kind of chatter?" Kirito asked after his finished. During the whole time he ate not a single word had been said. He didn't mind that and he actually preferred it that way but they had wanted him to stay for some reason so the silence was a little unnerving. The girls looked at him in bewilderment but before they could respond Agil and Rain appeared next to the table with a heap of drinks and food in their arms. They placed the food items down and afterward, sat down themselves filling the remaining empty seats.

Kirito eyed the food curiosity because it looked far too good to have been made by any NPC on such a low floor meaning that Agil had probably made it since he knew for a fact that Rain would burn a house down if she tried cooking.

Apparently, Agil had caught him staring since he said, "You know you can have some right? I made plenty for everyone." Kiritos gaze flickered up to the man for a second before he slowly reached out for a piece of toast and snatched it away. He gave a second to examine it more closely before he took a bite out of it causing his taste buds to buzz with flavor.

"Not bad, it's actually very well made and definitely one of the better meals I've had." He said after the first bite before he devoured the rest of it within seconds.

"You should see the rest of the stuff he can whip up, I swear I almost died from happiness the other night when he brought it a massive plate of pasta." The pink haired girl said excitedly with stars in her eyes as she piled a mountain of food on her plate. He realized he still did not know her name and decided to ask her.

"It's Strea." She told him before she started eating her food almost as fast as he did which was a rather impressive feat. Another moment of silence passed and Kirito started planning his leave since he had stayed until the end of his breakfast, but before he could start to excuse himself Rain asked him a question.

"So mind explaining how a stupid bug almost killed you?" He felt everyone's eyes shift to him meaning they were curious as well.

"That 'stupid bug' had an enrage when I didn't expect it to. Before the fight really began I planned to run if the situation got too hectic but the stupid thing summoned servants and locked me in place with its honey." He said to her still irritated that the stupid wasp had nearly killed him.

"You need to stop relying on past information Kii-bou, this isn't the same game it used to be," Argo said to him.

"I know it's just I thought I could win, apparently I still need to get better." He muttered that last part to himself but everyone still heard him.

"This is why you need to stop going solo, you're eventually gonna fight something that is stronger and you will be all alone." Kirito let out a sigh as the plan was finally revealed. This was all a well-laid trap to try and get him to join their group.

"You know why I'm solo." He said a little harsher than he meant to.

"And yet you still partied with me." Rain interjected.

"I needed a blacksmith and the only one around happened to be a stubborn girl like you." He told her. He saw her breath hitch slightly at his words and then her eyes narrowed.

"Fine go solo and die, see if I cared." She spat at him, her words laced with venom. She stood up from her seat and stomped angrily upstairs.

"And I'll take that as my cue." He said as he stood up and turned to the others.

"Once again I thank you for saving me and I thank you for the food." He told them before he walked to the doors not even hesitating as he opened them and walked out. One he left everyone was just staring at the door wondering what the heck had just happened.

 **Sorry for not updating for a while. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!  
**


	7. Duel

The sound of exploding polygons filled the air soon followed by the sound of heavy panting as the boss of the nineteenth floor died. Kirito stood in front of where the massive snake-like boss once and was breathing heavily. It had been five months since he had last spoke to the others but that hadn't stopped him from trying his hardest at clearing the game. But due to him being solo that had taken a heavy toll on him as he chugged down a health potion and eagerly awaited for his health bar to turn yellow and get out of the red zone.

The fight hadn't been terribly hard but it was still a boss fight and with him being solo it had taken many hours. Luckily it was a boss without servants too, meaning he only had one opponent the whole time making it easier. After his health finally went into the yellow and was steadily heading towards the green he finally bothered to check his last attack bonus which happened to be a pair of gloves. The stats on them were very good as they increased sword-skill damage and slightly reduced the lock time after one was executed. He equipped them and watched as the fingerless black leather gloves appeared on his hands before he finally started making his way to the next floor.

He knew that the others were either on their way to the boss room or clamoring around a teleport gate waiting for him to activate the twentieth floor and he was already dreading this. Luckily so far he hadn't had to confront them due to his agility stat letting him get away but the last time had been too close for comfort. He didn't dislike them but he still didn't like them so he really didn't want to interact with them unless it was absolutely necessary such as when he sent Argo a simple message about something extremely hazardous on a floor like the poison swamps on the last one.

With a sigh, he arrived on the twentieth floor and made his way over to the main city where the teleport gate was housed. On arrival at the gate, he quickly took out his only teleport crystal and readied himself. In one quick movement, he activated the gate and in the same second activated the crystal and shouted the command to teleport to the third floor.

Upon arriving at the third floor Kirito was pleased to see he was alone besides the NPC's milling around. He was glad that no one had so far discovered which floor he lived on as that would be bothersome since acquiring a house was a really big pain. After walking for a minute or two he arrived at his basic house that didn't have any attracting features which was perfect for hiding in plain sight. He entered the house and was about to go over and pass out on a couch before an icon appeared before him saying he had a message. A frown formed on his face because he was used to getting messages after clearing a floor so he knew what to expect. But in case it was something different he had to check anyway and when he did he was shocked.

The message wasn't from any of the others but was in fact from Kayaba Akihiko himself. It was a short message that only contained a simple sentence which warned about how the boss on the new floor would be stronger as it was a milestone boss. This was shocking itself because it was only supposed to be every twenty-five floors had an insanely strong boss but if it was every twenty and twenty-five floors then this game just got more difficult. If this didn't make matters worse he received a message from Argo shortly after saying, 'We need to talk, meet me at the inn.'

Letting out a curse he left his house not even needing to know what inn she was talking about. It was the same one he had woken up in after the wasp incident because he was told by her that that inn was their home until further notice. It didn't take long for him to arrive at the inn but it did take a little bit of time for him to enter it as he mentally prepared himself. Finally, after he steeled his nerves he walked inside and breathed a sigh of relief when he was that Argo was the only one here.

"Been a while kii-bou, I've been missing ya." She said with a sly grin as he took his seat across from her.

"It has been a while. So I assume you got the message as well?" He asked wanting to get straight to the point.

"Yeah I did and that's why I asked you to meet me here." A look of seriousness grew on her face. "I know you don't like people but even you can't kill a milestone boss solo. Tell me when you killed that boss earlier today what color was your health?"

"Red," Kirito muttered barely loud enough for her to hear.

"My point exactly. You are going to need help for this fight and you know it yourself. So I need you to get over whatever it is that has you so distant and help us." His breath hitched as she said this and let a low growl escape his throat.

"I don't need help." He told her. "I will just take a while longer on this floor and grind my levels up before going to kill it."

"Oh, and what will you do if it has a stun attack followed by an instant kill?" She asked with a bit of irritation in her voice.

"I'll deal with it." He told her. A tick mark formed on Argo's head as she was getting sick of his attitude.

"You are more stubborn than I remembered. Tell you what I'll never ask you to join us again if you win a fight do we have a deal?" She asked slyly as her plan formed in her head.

"Just a fight? Who will I fight?" He asked wondering where this sudden idea came from. He knew Argo wouldn't have proposed this without a purpose and if there was one thing she was good at doing it was being cunning.

"Yukki." Was the one worded response. That name meant something to Kirito since he had witnessed the girl kill the wounded boss in one strike when it would have taken him a couple more hours. But this was his chance to get Argo to stop pestering him.

"And the catch?" He asked.

"It's obvious really if you win I won't ask you to join us again. But if you lose you will join immediately." Kirito thought about this for a minute before realizing if he couldn't beat Yukki then he couldn't beat the boss. This fight would prove if the twentieth boss fight would be possible.

"Alright I accept, name the time and place." He told her confidently causing her smirk to grow.

"Here and now." She said simply.

"Alright, but you will have to get her here." He told her as he opened up his inventory and fingered through it until he came across his strongest weapon and equipped it. He looked at the curved red scimitar that formed in his hands with glee but when he noticed that Argo wasn't moving at all he looked back up. He was about to ask her what was wrong before he saw that she wasn't looking at him but past him. Slowly turning around he nearly jumped to see that Yukki was less than two feet behind him lazily leaning on her sword.

"Your stats are seriously over leveled." He told her not believing her hiding stat was high enough for him not to notice her enter.

"Or maybe your stats are just under leveled." She teased as she shifted her weight off her sword and did a beckoning motion. "Come on I've been waiting for this fight but I'd rather not do it in here." He gave a shrug before following her as he wondered what she meant by her saying she had been waiting to fight him. The trio walked into the middle of the street outside which would give optimal room for the duel.

"One strike mode alright with you?" Kirito called out and after receiving a nod sent the request. He looked up at the timer and unsheathed his scimitar as he began counting down the seconds until the timer hit zero. While doing this he kept a close eye on the form of Yukki as he looked for the slightest hint of her plan. He saw her muscles tense as the final second hit and raised his sword just in time as she closed the distance between them within an instance.

"Just how fast are you?" He asked her as he blocked another strike before throwing one of his own which was also blocked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Yukki responded as she found it surprising he was able to keep up with her movements. The two of them traded attack after attack but neither ever scored a hit on the other. Finally, after many minutes of trading attacks, the hilts of their blades finally locked with each other. Their faces were mere inches apart as they both tried and failed to break the guard of their opponent.

"This if fun," Yukki exclaimed as if this was the most fun she ever had.

Kirito tried and failed to keep the grin from appearing on his face before he said, "I agree this is the best fight I ever had." As if by some unspoken agreement both combatants pushed off of each other and resumed their trade of blows. An hour went by as the two fought and yet neither of them still had managed to gain a hit. By this point, Argo had sent a message to everyone else who were all watching the duel now not believing what they were witnessing.

"Are they even human?" Rain asked not believing that they still seemed to not be tiring.

"Don't worry this fight won't last for much longer," Argo said with a grin already knowing the result.

"And how would you know that?" Agil asked wondering why she seemed so sure of it.

"His blade." Were the only words she said as everyone looked at the scimitar Kirito wielded. It was laden with a multitude of cracks while Yukki's had about half as much. Rain's eyes widened as she realized what was happening. Kirito didn't have a blacksmith but Yukki did meaning that her blade would be better and more durable than his.

"Why doesn't he just equip a new one?" Rain asked remembering the first floor boss fight.

"Yukki isn't a predictable enemy. I bet it's taking all of his concentration to hold her off so he has no chance of winning if he tries to equip a new one. If I had to guess his blade should break in the next few hits anyways." Argo responded.

As if to prove her point Yukki rushed forward and swung her blade which Kirito was ready to block but was shocked as his blade snapped in half and Yukki's buried itself into his flesh.

After an hour of fighting the duel had finally come to an end with Kirito being the loser.

 **Finally glad to get this chapter out as this finally starts the part where Kirito can finally stop being a mopey solo player. This also means the chapters will start increasing in length as well. Anyways hope you enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reading!**


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